Camillo

Play

The Winter's Tale

Summary

A loyal Sicilian lord ordered by Leontes to poison Polixenes, who instead warns the Bohemian king and flees with him. Spending sixteen years in Bohemia as Polixenes's trusted counselor, Camillo then helps Florizel and Perdita elope back to Sicilia, engineering the chain of events that leads to the final reconciliation. He is the play's wise, practical facilitator — always choosing preservation and reconciliation over obedience to destructive authority.

Notable Quotations

"I must be the poisoner / Of good Polixenes, and my ground to do't / Is the obedience to a master; one / Who, in rebellion with himself, will have / All that are his so too." *(I.ii)*

Cross-references

• The Winter's Tale — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_leontes — the king whose mad order he refuses
• character_polixenes — the king he saves and serves in exile
• character_florizel — whose elopement he facilitates
• character_perdita — whom he helps to safety